Programming disruption diagnostics

ABSTRACT

Various arrangements for monitoring the signal strength of a programming stream are presented. A tuner in a receiver may be allocated to monitor disruptions and changes to the signal strength of programming streams. Based on the characteristics of the signal strength and changes to additional data such as weather information, a cause of the disruption may be determined. The cause of the disruption may be communicated to a user. Characteristics of the disruption may be unique or localized to specific geographic locations. Based at least in part on the geographic location of a receiver characteristics of disruptions may be used to identify television receivers associated with account packing.

BACKGROUND

Television programming received from a satellite may be disrupted due tonetwork issues, equipment failure, weather conditions, and other causes.Such a disruption of a programming stream may be frustrating to users.Users may try to navigate or tune to unavailable programming streamsonly to find blank screens and no programming. Frustrated users mayoften contact customer support trying to resolve the issue when in manycases the disruption may be only temporary. Likewise, users may stopwatching programming after a minute of programming disruption even ifthe disruption may only last two minutes.

SUMMARY

In some embodiments, a television receiver system configured to monitoroutages is presented. The television receiver system may include one ormore tuners. The television receiver system may include one or moreprocessors. The television receiver system may include a memorycommunicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processorsand having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, may cause the one or moreprocessors to allocate a tuner for monitoring operations. Theinstructions may further cause the one or more processors to monitor,using the tuner, a signal strength of a programming stream and determinepredicted characteristics of a subsequent disruption. The instructionsmay further cause the one or more processors to monitor, using thetuner, the signal strength characteristics of the subsequent disruptionand determine if the signal strength characteristics during thesubsequent disruption match and the predicted characteristics. Inresponse to determining that the signal strength characteristics do notmatch the predicted characteristics, the television receiver may bedisrupted.

In some embodiments the receiver may output for display, to the user, anotification that the receiver has been disrupted. In response todetermining that the signal strength characteristics match the predictedcharacteristics, the receiver may schedule the monitoring of a futuredisruption. In some embodiments the tuner may be allocated based onusage characteristics of the receiver and signal strengthcharacteristics may include a start time and end time of the disruption.In some embodiments wherein the signal strength characteristics may alsoinclude a relative start time and end time of the disruption for signalsfor two or more satellites. The instructions may further cause the oneor more processors to alert a service provider of potential accountpacking activities when the monitored and predicted characteristics donot match.

In some embodiments, a method for monitoring programming outages using atelevision receiver is presented. The method may include allocating atuner for monitoring operations and monitoring, using the tuner, signalstrength characteristics during a disruption. The method may includedetermining predicted characteristics of a subsequent disruption andmonitoring, using the tuner, the signal strength characteristics duringthe subsequent disruption. The method may also include determining ifthe signal strength characteristics during the subsequent disruptionmatch and the predicted characteristics and in response to determiningthat the signal strength characteristics do not match the predictedcharacteristics, disabling the television receiver.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory processor-readable medium formonitoring programming outages is presented. The medium may includeprocessor-readable instructions configured to cause one or moreprocessors to allocate a tuner for monitoring operations. The tuner mayone of a plurality of tuners. The medium may include instructions tomonitor, using the tuner, a signal strength characteristics during adisruption and determine predicted characteristics of a subsequentdisruption. The medium may also include instructions to monitor, usingthe tuner, the signal strength characteristics during the subsequentdisruption and determine if the signal strength characteristics duringthe subsequent disruption match and the predicted characteristics hold.In response to determining that the signal strength characteristics donot match the predicted characteristics the television receiver may bedisabled.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of variousembodiments may be realized by reference to the following figures. Inthe appended figures, similar components or features may have the samereference label. Further, various components of the same type may bedistinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If only the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a satellite television distributionsystem.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a television receiver configured togenerate user alerts for programming disruptions.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a system for monitoring andclassifying signal strength of a programming stream at a receiver.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a system for monitoring andanalyzing reports of programming disruptions at the service provider.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a method for monitoring the signalstrength of a programming stream.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a method for generating programmingdisruption notifications.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a method for providing alternativeprogramming during a disruption.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of a method for generating a signalstrength signature.

FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B illustrate embodiments of signal signatures.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a method for using a signalsignature to diagnose a cause of a disruption.

FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of a method for determining accountpacking using a predictable disruption.

FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment of a method for determining accountpacking using regional disruption data.

FIG. 13 illustrates an embodiment of a method for determining accountpacking using regional disruption data matching.

FIG. 14 illustrates an embodiment of a computer system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Satellite based television systems may distribute programming streams tousers' receivers via one or more satellites. On occasion, theprogramming streams may experience disruptions. Disruptions may be dueto signal obstructions due to weather conditions, foliage, solar events,or other causes. In some cases, disruptions in programming streams maybe due to network problems, hardware failures, and/or satellite uplinkproblems. The disruptions may affect only a partial list of theprogramming streams available to a television receiver and may betemporary or transient lasting several seconds or minutes. Somedisruptions, such as hardware failures, for example, may be almostcompletely unpredictable. Other disruptions, such as disruptions relatedto solar conjunctions may occur at very specific and predictable times.Other disruptions, due to weather conditions for example, may only bepartially predictable since weather patterns may often quickly shift orchange unexpectedly.

The disruptions may in many instances be unavoidable and not associatedwith a problem at the service provider. Users who have receivers thatexperience programming disruptions may often direct their frustration ata service provider even if the disruption is not preventable. The userexperience and expectations before, during, and after a programmingdisruption may be improved by providing the user with notifications,alerts, and data regarding current disruptions, possible futuredisruptions, and past disruptions. The notifications may includeinformation about causes or reasons for disruptions, expected time andduration of disruption, and/or alternative available programming that iscurrently available to the user. Identifying the cause of the disruptionand providing the user with alternative programming may improve theuser's experience and avoid unwarranted frustration directed at theservice provider.

For example, severe weather conditions such as heavy rain or dense cloudcover may block or attenuate a satellite signal. An antenna mounted on auser's residence, for example, may be unable to receive a signal throughthe rain or cloud cover. The disruption may be temporary, and mayresolve once the weather passes. During this time, programmingassociated with the attenuated satellite signal may be unavailable whenusers try to tune to the programming on their receivers. In general,such weather disruptions cannot be controlled by the service provider.In some cases the cause of the disruption may be non-obvious to a usersince the weather may not be currently affecting the user but may bemiles away. Depending on the azimuth angle of the satellites providingthe programming streams, the satellites' transmissions may be affectedwhile others may be at an angle or position such that they are notaffected by the disruption.

In another example, solar events such as a solar conjunction may affectthe reception of satellite signals. A solar conjunction may occur whenthe sun is directly in line with a satellite from which the receivingantenna is receiving a signal and the receiving antenna at a customer'slocation. Such a solar conjunction may also occur when the sun isapproximately in line with the satellite and the receiving antenna (suchas within 5, 10, or 15 degrees). Therefore, during a solar junction, asdefined herein, a roughly straight line could be drawn from a receivingdish, to a satellite from which the receiving dish is receiving asignal, and to the sun. The location of the sun in the sky ispredictable for a geographic location and the locations of thesatellites from which the receiving dish receives signals can bedetermined with accuracy. Therefore, when a solar conjunction shouldoccur for a particular geographic location can be determined withaccuracy. Thus, disruptions related to a solar conjunction arepredictable. The timing, expected duration, and/or other characteristicsof the disruption may be determined ahead of the actual disruptions.

In yet another example, weather or hardware failures may affect thetransmission and programming distribution network. Uplink stations, orstations that send programming streams to satellites may themselvesexperience problems. A hardware failure at the uplink station maydisrupt some programming. In such cases, the solution to the disruptionmay be controlled by the service provider and the service provider maybe able to mitigate the disruption by diverting data transfer to otheruplink stations, replacing hardware, and the like.

In many cases, a programming outage may be anticipated and/or confirmedby a receiver or the service provider. Based on the signal strengthcharacteristics, information from local weather forecasts, informationfrom other receivers in the geographic area, and/or other information,the cause of the disruption may be diagnosed. The user may be notifiedof the cause of the disruption. The user may be provided with anestimate of the expected duration of the disruption. In some otherinstances, the user may be provided with alternative programmingoptions.

In some embodiments, the television receiver may diagnose the cause ofthe disruption. A television receiver may monitor the received signalstrength and monitor and/or save the trends or changes in the signalstrength. As the signal strength fades or is reduced below a thresholdthe television receiver may initiate a procedure to determine the causeof the signal degradation. In some embodiments the television receivermay include predefined templates with saved signatures of a fadingsignal. The templates or saved signatures may be associated with orindicative of a one or more possible causes of the signal fade. Inembodiments, the television receiver may compare the saved signalstrength trends to the predefined templates or signatures. The closestmatching template or a set of closely matching templates or signaturesmay be used to help diagnose the cause of the signal strengthdegradation and/or predict the duration. The television receiver maydisplay or alert the user to the possible causes of the signaldegradation and/or duration allowing the user to plan for the disruptionor mitigate the disruption. Templates may be defined and/or includespecific rates of degradation, accelerations of degradation and/or otherchanges in signal strength patterns. The signal degradation maytherefore be diagnosed by the television receiver independently even ifthe television receiver does not have communication with the serviceprovider.

For some predictable disruption events, the television receiver mayinclude a table of scheduled or predicted times, dates, durations, andother info related to the disruption. In some cases the occurrence ofthe disruptions may defined by a formula or a method that allowscalculation of the occurrence using the last known occurrence. Forexample, disruptions due to solar conjunction events occur inpredictable intervals typically twice a year. The predicted occurrenceof the events may be stored in a table that identifies the expected dateof the disruption. The television receiver may track the current timeand date and determine, using the table, when the disruption is likelyto occur.

In some embodiments, a user's television receiver may allocate tuners ofa receiver to continuously, periodically, randomly, or the like, scanand monitor the signal strength of programming streams from a satellite.The tuners may be allocated according to a user's usage characteristics.The receiver may be configured to receive alerts, weather information,disruption forecasts, and other information from the service providervia the tuner or other communication channel. The received informationand/or the signal strength of programming streams may be used todiagnose the cause of the disruption. The monitoring and diagnosis ofthe disruptions may be performed in the background by the system such aswhile a user is watching and/or recording other programming. Thereceiver may maintain a data set of the status of programming streamsand notify the user of the disruption and/or cause when the userattempts to tune to or record the disrupted programming stream. Thediagnosis of the disruption and notification to the user may improve theuser's experience and reduce frustration when disruptions occur.

In some embodiments, data from one or more receivers related to signalstrength of programming streams may be transmitted to a serviceprovider. The service provider may use data from the receivers todetermine or predict disruption trends, geographical areas experiencingdisruptions, expected signatures associated with disruptions and othercharacteristic data. In some embodiments, programming disruption datareceived by the service provider may be used to detect fraudulentactivity such as account packing. In some cases, users may fraudulentlyreceive programming authorization or programming streams from remotetuners that may be located in a remote location from the user. Forinstance, remote tuners may fraudulently transmit programming streams tomultiple remote users while paying only for one user. Or, a user mayindicate to a television service provider that a television receiver isto be installed at a first location (e.g., as part of a home thatalready pays a subscription fee), but actually install the televisionreceiver at a second location (e.g., another house). Receivers or usersthat fraudulently receive such programming may be detected by monitoringprogramming disruptions and comparing programming disruptions withreceivers in the same geographic location. Service providers may receiveprogramming disruption information from receivers. The service providermay analyze expected programming disruption based on reportedprogramming disruptions in a specific geographic area. Receivers that donot appear to show disruptions consistent with other receivers in thesame geographic areas may be receiving programming from remote tuners orthe television receiver may be located in a geographic location otherthan where the user has indicated the television receiver as beinginstalled. Such receivers may be disabled, flagged or identified forfurther investigation.

A predictable or scheduled disruption may be used to identify televisionreceivers associated with account packing A disruption such as a solarconjunction, for example, may be highly likely to disrupt programming ina predictable manner. Disruptions may be predictable according tospecific geographic locations. For instance, for a particular geographicregion, such as a city, a solar conjunction can be expected to occur atapproximately the same time. Disruptions due to solar conjunctions maypredictably occur at different times in different geographic locations.A solar conjunction, for example, can result in rolling disruptions thatprogress from east to west. A disruption due to a solar conjunction maybegin at a predictable time on the East coast. The disruption may thenprogress from East to West across the United States at a predictablerate. Television receivers located in different geographic locations mayexperience disruptions at different times. A television receiver locatedon the East coast may experience a disruption at a different time than atelevision receiver located on the West coast. The disruptions for eachgeographic location may be predictable and may be determined orcalculated based on the geographic location of the receiver. Atelevision receiver may have a stored table or a method of determiningdisruption timing based on the physical location of the televisionreceiver.

A television receiver associated with account packing may receiveprogramming from a different location than the physical location of thetelevision receiver. A television receiver may monitor programmingdisruptions and compare the timing, duration, and/or type of disruptionobserved to the expected timing, duration, and/or type of expecteddisruption based on the geographic location of the television receiver.If the expected and observed characteristics of the disruptions do notmatch, the television receiver may be associated with account packing.If the expected and observed characteristics of the disruptions do notmatch, the television receiver may be configured to at least partiallydisable itself (e.g., disable the output of live and recorded televisionprogramming). The television receiver may prompt users to contact theservice provider via a message that is output for presentation.

In some television receivers, the characteristics of one or more typesof disruptions used to detect account packing may be preprogrammed orstored on the television receiver. Characteristics of the disruption mayinclude duration, timing, type, and/or the like. A table or a method ofcalculation may be included based on the location of the televisionreceiver. In some embodiments the physical location may be determinedfrom a GPS signal, internet connection port, and the like. The locationmay be used to compute or determine the expected characteristics of thedisruption. For instance, if a solar conjunction event does not occur ata time expected for a geographic location at which the user indicatesthe television receiver is installed, it may be determined that thetelevision receiver has been installed at another location (e.g., anaccount packing situation).

In some television receivers, the characteristics of the disruptionsused to detect account packing may be determined in a training phase.After a television receiver is deployed into a customer's home, thetelevision receiver may monitor disruptions and record thecharacteristics of the disruptions related to solar conjunction. Thetelevision receiver may recognize that the disruption may be due to asolar conjunction due to its east to west disruption of satellites,timing of the disruption, and the like. The exact timing of thedisruptions, the duration, and other features, which may be unique tothe geographic location of the receiver, may be monitored and recorded.The features may be associated with the physical location of thereceiver that may be determined by a GPS of the receiver, internetconnection, manually identified, and the like. Based on the trainingphase, future disruption characteristics specific to the geographicallocation of the receiver may be determined from the characteristicscaptured during the training phase. In the case of a solar conjunction,for example, once a solar conjunction is observed, the timing of asubsequent solar conjunction may be calculated. When subsequentdisruptions do not match the expected characteristics of thedisruptions, the television receiver may be identified as a possiblyassociated with account packing.

Programming stream disruption monitoring, diagnosis, and notificationmay be implemented in a satellite based television system, an embodimentof which is illustrated in FIG. 1. Satellite television distributionsystem 100 may include: television service provider system 110,satellite transmitter equipment 120, satellites 130, satellite dish 140,television receiver 150, and display device 160. Alternate embodimentsof satellite television distribution system 100 may include fewer orgreater numbers of components. While only one satellite dish 140,television receiver 150, and display device 160 (collectively referredto as “user equipment”) are illustrated, it should be understood thatmultiple (e.g., tens, thousands, millions) instances of user equipmentmay receive television signals from television service provider system110 via satellites 130. The system may include a disruption analysisengine 300 and/or a programming disruption analysis engine 211. Thedisruption analysis engine 300 may monitor and analyze weather patterns,network disruptions, and other events. The disruption analysis engine300 may generate signal signatures that may be used by the programmingdisruption analysis engine 211 to diagnose disruptions on the receiver.

Television service provider system 110 and satellite transmitterequipment 120 may be operated by a television service provider. Atelevision service provider may distribute television channels,on-demand programming, programming information, and/or othercontent/services to users. Television service provider system 110 mayreceive feeds of one or more television channels from various sources.Such television channels may include multiple television channels thatcontain at least some of the same content (e.g., network affiliates). Todistribute television channels for presentation to users, feeds of thetelevision channels may be relayed to user equipment via multipletelevision distribution satellites. Each satellite may relay multipletransponder streams. Satellite transmitter equipment 120 (120-1, 120-2)may be used to transmit a feed of one or more television channels fromtelevision service provider system 110 to one or more satellites 130.While a single television service provider system 110 and satellitetransmitter equipment 120 are illustrated as part of satellitetelevision distribution system 100, it should be understood thatmultiple instances of transmitter equipment may be used, possiblyscattered geographically, to communicate with satellites 130. Suchmultiple instances of satellite transmitting equipment may communicatewith the same or with different satellites. Different televisionchannels may be transmitted to satellites 130 from different instancesof transmitting equipment. For instance, a different satellite dish ofsatellite transmitter equipment 120 may be used for communication withsatellites in different orbital slots. Information about the preciselocations of satellites 130 may be provided to television receivers inthe form of ephemeris information that is determined by the televisionservice provider. Such information can be used for determining when asatellite will be approximately in line with satellite dish and the sun,which is when a solar conjunction occurs. By having informationindicative of a precise location of the satellite, when a solarconjunction should occur for a particular geographic region or locationmay be determined with a higher degree of accuracy.

Satellites 130 may be configured to receive signals, such as streams oftelevision channels, from one or more satellite uplinks such assatellite transmitter equipment 120. Satellites 130 may relay receivedsignals from satellite transmitter equipment 120 (and/or other satellitetransmitter equipment) to multiple instances of user equipment viatransponder streams. Different frequencies may be used for uplinksignals 170 from transponder streams 180. Satellites 130 may be ingeosynchronous orbit. Each of the transponder streams transmitted bysatellites 130 may contain multiple television channels transmitted aspacketized data. For example, a single transponder stream may be aserial digital packet stream containing multiple television channels.Therefore, packets for multiple television channels may be interspersed.In embodiments a stream of a television channel may be referred to as aprogramming stream. In some cases several television channels may becombined into one stream such as in a transponder stream. In thisdescriptions transponder streams and programming streams may be usedsynonymously.

Multiple satellites 130 may be used to relay television channels fromtelevision service provider system 110 to satellite dish 140. Differenttelevision channels may be carried using different satellites. Differenttelevision channels may also be carried using different transponders ofthe same satellite; thus, such television channels may be transmitted atdifferent frequencies and/or different frequency ranges. As an example,a first and second television channel may be relayed via a firsttransponder of satellite 130-1. A third, fourth, and fifth televisionchannel may be relayed via a different satellite or a differenttransponder of the same satellite relaying a transponder stream at adifferent frequency. A transponder stream transmitted by a particulartransponder of a particular satellite may include a finite number oftelevision channels, such as seven. Accordingly, if many televisionchannels are to be made available for viewing and recording, multipletransponder streams may be necessary to transmit all of the televisionchannels to the instances of user equipment. Each transponder stream maybe able to carry a finite amount of data. As such, the number oftelevision channels that can be included in a particular transponderstream may be at least partially dependent on the resolution of thevideo of the television channel. For example, a transponder stream maybe able to carry seven or eight television channels at a highresolution, but may be able to carry dozens, fifty, a hundred, twohundred, or some other number of television channels at reducedresolutions.

Satellite dish 140 may be a piece of user equipment that is used toreceive transponder streams from one or more satellites, such assatellites 130. Satellite dish 140 may be provided to a subscriber foruse on a subscription basis to receive television channels provided bythe television service provider system 110, satellite transmitterequipment 120, and/or satellites 130. Satellite dish 140, which mayinclude one or more low noise blocks (LNBs), may be configured toreceive transponder streams from multiple satellites and/or multipletransponders of the same satellite. Satellite dish 140 may be configuredto receive television channels via transponder streams on multiplefrequencies. Based on the characteristics of television receiver 150and/or satellite dish 140, it may only be possible to capturetransponder streams from a limited number of transponders concurrently.For example, a tuner of television receiver 150 may only be able to tuneto a single transponder stream from a transponder of a single satelliteat a given time. The tuner can then be re-tuned to another transponderof the same or a different satellite. A television receiver 150 havingmultiple tuners may allow for multiple transponder streams to bereceived at the same time.

In communication with satellite dish 140 may be one or more televisionreceivers. Television receivers may be configured to decode signalsreceived from satellites 130 via satellite dish 140 for output andpresentation via a display device, such as display device 160. Atelevision receiver may be incorporated as part of a television or maybe part of a separate device, commonly referred to as a set-top box(STB). Television receiver 150 may decode signals received via satellitedish 140 and provide an output to display device 160. FIG. 2 providesadditional detail of various embodiments of a television receiver. Atelevision receiver is defined to include set-top boxes (STBs) and alsocircuitry having similar functionality that may be incorporated withanother device. For instance, circuitry similar to that of a televisionreceiver may be incorporated as part of a television. As such, whileFIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of television receiver 150 as separatefrom display device 160, it should be understood that, in otherembodiments, similar functions may be performed by a television receiverintegrated with display device 160.

Display device 160 may be used to present video and/or audio decoded andoutput by television receiver 150. Television receiver 150 may alsooutput a display of one or more interfaces to display device 160, suchas an electronic programming guide (EPG). In many embodiments, displaydevice 160 is a television. Display device 160 may also be a monitor,computer, or some other device configured to display video and,possibly, play audio.

Uplink signal 170-1 represents a signal between satellite transmitterequipment 120 and satellite 130-1. Uplink signal 170-2 represents asignal between satellite transmitter equipment 120 and satellite 130-2.Each of uplink signals 170 may contain streams of one or more differenttelevision channels. For example, uplink signal 170-1 may contain afirst group of television channels, while uplink signal 170-2 contains asecond group of television channels. Each of these television channelsmay be scrambled such that unauthorized persons are prevented fromaccessing the television channels.

Transponder stream 180-1 represents a transponder stream signal betweensatellite 130-1 and satellite dish 140. Transponder stream 180-2represents a transponder stream signal between satellite 130-2 andsatellite dish 140. Each of transponder streams 180 may contain one ormore different television channels, which may be at least partiallyscrambled. For example, transponder stream 180-1 may be a firsttransponder stream containing a first group of television channels,while transponder stream 180-2 may be a second transponder streamcontaining a different group of television channels. When a televisionchannel is received as part of a transponder stream and is decoded andoutput to display device 160 (rather than first storing the televisionchannel to a storage medium as part of DVR functionality then lateroutputting the television channel from the storage medium), thetelevision channel may be considered to be viewed “live.”

FIG. 1 illustrates transponder stream 180-1 and transponder stream 180-2being received by satellite dish 140 and distributed to televisionreceiver 150. For a first group of television channels, satellite dish140 may receive transponder stream 180-1 and for a second group ofchannels, transponder stream 180-2 may be received. Television receiver150 may decode the received transponder streams. As such, depending onwhich television channels are desired to be presented or stored, varioustransponder streams from various satellites may be received,descrambled, and decoded by television receiver 150.

By way of example, a solar conjunction may occur when the sun isapproximately (or within a number of degrees) of a line drawn between asatellite from which a satellite dish is receiving a signal and thesatellite dish. For instance, referring to FIG. 1, line 199 represents apath in which sun 198 is approximately in line with satellite 130-2 andsatellite dish 140. When sun 198 is in such a position, programmingdisruption may occur at television receiver 150.

Network 190 may serve as a secondary communication channel betweentelevision service provider system 110 and television receiver 150.However, in many instances, television receiver 150 may be disconnectedfrom network 190 (for reasons such as because television receiver 150 isnot configured to connect to network 190 or a subscriber does not desireor cannot connect to network 190). As such, the connection betweennetwork 190 and television receiver 150 is represented by a dotted line.Via such a secondary communication channel, bidirectional exchange ofdata may occur. As such, data may be transmitted to television serviceprovider system 110 from television receiver 150 via network 190. Datamay also be transmitted from television service provider system 110 totelevision receiver 150 via network 190. Network 190 may be theInternet. While audio and video services may be provided to televisionreceiver 150 via satellites 130, feedback from television receiver 150to television service provider system 110 may be transmitted via network190.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of television receiver 200. Televisionreceiver 200 may be configured to monitor and diagnose programmingstreams disruptions and output notifications. Television receiver 200may be in the form of a separate device configured to be connected witha display device, such as a television. Embodiments of televisionreceiver 200 can include set top boxes (STBs). As previously noted, inaddition to being in the form of an STB, a television receiver may beincorporated as part of another device, such as a television or otherform of display device. For example, a television may have an integratedtelevision receiver (which does not involve an external STB beingcoupled with the television).

Television receiver 200 may represent television receiver 150 of FIG. 1and may be in the form of an STB that outputs video and/or audio to adisplay device, such as a television. Television receiver 200 may beincorporated as part of a television, such as display device 160 ofFIG. 1. Television receiver 200 may include: processors 210 (which mayinclude control processor 210-1, tuning management processor 210-2, andpossibly additional processors), tuners 215, network interface 220,non-transitory computer-readable storage medium 225, electronicprogramming guide (EPG) database 230, television interface 235,networking information table (NIT) 240, digital video recorder (DVR)database 245 (which may include provider-managed television programmingstorage and/or user-defined television programming), on-demandprogramming 227, user profiles 247, programming preview database 248,user interface 250, external storage device 252, smartcard 260, and/ordescrambling engine 265. In other embodiments of television receiver200, fewer or greater numbers of components may be present. It should beunderstood that the various components of television receiver 200 may beimplemented using hardware, firmware, software, and/or some combinationthereof. Functionality of components may be combined; for example,functions of descrambling engine 265 may be performed by tuningmanagement processor 210-2. Further, functionality of components may bespread among additional components; for example, PID (packet identifier)filters 255 may be handled by separate hardware from program managementtable 257.

Processors 210 may include one or more specialized and/orgeneral-purpose processors configured to perform processes such astuning to a particular channel, accessing and displaying EPG informationfrom EPG database 230, and/or receiving and processing input from auser. For example, processors 210 may include one or more processorsdedicated to decoding video signals from a particular format, such asMPEG, for output and display on a television and for performingdecryption. It should be understood that the functions performed byvarious modules of FIG. 2 may be performed using one or more processors.As such, for example, functions of descrambling engine 265 may beperformed by control processor 210-1.

Control processor 210-1 may communicate with tuning management processor210-2. Control processor 210-1 may control the recording of televisionchannels based on timers stored in DVR database 245. Control processor210-1 may also provide commands to tuning management processor 210-2when recording of a television channel is to cease. In addition toproviding commands relating to the recording of television channels,control processor 210-1 may provide commands to tuning managementprocessor 210-2 that indicate television channels to be output todecoder module 233 for output to a display device. Control processor210-1 may also communicate with network interface 220 and user interface250. Control processor 210-1 may handle incoming data from networkinterface 220 and user interface 250. Additionally, control processor210-1 may be configured to output data via network interface 220.

Control processor 210-1 may include a programming disruption analysisengine 211. Embodiments of a programming disruption analysis engine 211are described in relation to FIG. 3.

Tuners 215 may include one or more tuners used to tune to transpondersthat include broadcasts of one or more programming streams or televisionchannels. In the illustrated embodiment of television receiver 200,three tuners are present (tuner 215-1, tuner 215-2, and tuner 215-3). Inother embodiments, two or more than three tuners may be present, such asfour, six, or eight tuners. Each tuner contained in tuners 215 may becapable of receiving and processing a single transponder stream from asatellite transponder at a given time. As such, a single tuner may tuneto a single transponder stream at a given time. If tuners 215 includemultiple tuners, one tuner may be used to tune to a television channelon a first transponder stream for display using a television, whileanother tuner may be used to tune to a television channel on a secondtransponder for recording and viewing at some other time. If multipletelevision channels transmitted on the same transponder stream aredesired, a single tuner of tuners 215 may be used to receive the signalcontaining the multiple television channels for presentation and/orrecording. Tuners 215 may receive commands from tuning managementprocessor 210-2. Such commands may instruct tuners 215 which frequenciesare to be tuned to.

Network interface 220 may be used to communicate via an alternatecommunication channel with a television service provider, if suchcommunication channel is available. The primary communication channelmay be via satellite (which may be unidirectional to television receiver200) and the alternate communication channel (which may bebidirectional) may be via a network, such as the Internet. Referringback to FIG. 1, television receiver 150 may be able to communicate withtelevision service provider system 110 via a network, such as theInternet. This communication may be bidirectional: data may betransmitted from television receiver 150 to television service providersystem 110 and from television service provider system 110 to televisionreceiver 150. Referring back to FIG. 2, network interface 220 may beconfigured to communicate via one or more networks, such as theInternet, to communicate with television service provider system 110 ofFIG. 1. Information may be transmitted and/or received via networkinterface 220. For instance, instructions (e.g., regarding subscriptionportability) from a television service provider may also be received vianetwork interface 220, if connected with the Internet. Network interface220 may be used to provide a confirmation to a television serviceprovider that instructions received from the television service providerhave indeed been executed.

Storage medium 225 may represent one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable storage mediums. Storage medium 225 may include memoryand/or a hard drive. Storage medium 225 may be used to store informationreceived from one or more satellites and/or information received vianetwork interface 220. Storage medium 225 may store information relatedto EPG database 230, other non-video/audio data 231, DVR database 245,user profiles 247, programming preview database 248, and/or on-demandprogramming 227. Recorded television programs may be stored usingstorage medium 225 as part of DVR database 245. Storage medium 225 maybe partitioned or otherwise divided (such as into folders) such thatpredefined amounts of storage medium 225 are devoted to storage oftelevision programs recorded due to user-defined timers and storedtelevision programs recorded due to provider-defined timers.

EPG database 230 may store information related to television channelsand the timing of programs appearing on such television channels. EPGdatabase 230 may be stored using storage medium 225, which may be a harddrive. Information from EPG database 230 may be used to inform users ofwhat television channels or programs are popular and/or providerecommendations to the user. Information from EPG database 230 mayprovide the user with a visual interface displayed by a television thatallows a user to browse and select television channels and/or televisionprograms for viewing and/or recording. Information used to populate EPGdatabase 230 may be received via network interface 220 and/or viasatellites, such as satellites 130 of FIG. 1 via tuners 215. Forinstance, updates to EPG database 230 may be received periodically viasatellite. EPG database 230 may serve as an interface for a user tocontrol DVR functions of television receiver 200, and/or to enableviewing and/or recording of multiple television channels simultaneously.

The network information table (NIT) 240 may store information used bytelevision receiver 200 to access various television channels. NIT 240may be stored locally by a processor, such as tuning managementprocessor 210-2 and/or by storage medium 225. Information used topopulate NIT 240 may be received via satellite (or cable) through tuners215 and/or may be received via network interface 220 from the televisionservice provider. As such, information present in NIT 240 may beperiodically updated. In some embodiments, NIT 240 may be locally-storedby television receiver 200 using storage medium 225. Generally, NIT 240may store information about a service provider network, such as asatellite-based service provider network. Information that may bepresent in NIT 240 may include: television channel numbers, satelliteidentifiers (which may be used to ensure different satellites are tunedto for reception of timing signals), frequency identifiers and/ortransponder identifiers for various television channels. In someembodiments, NIT 240 may contain additional data or additional tablesmay be stored by the television receiver. For example, while specificaudio PIDs and video PIDs may not be present in NIT 240, a channelidentifier may be present within NIT 240 which may be used to look upthe audio PIDs and video PIDs in another table, such as a program maptable (PMT). In some embodiments, a PID associated with the data for thePMT is indicated in a separate table, program association table (PAT),which is not illustrated in FIG. 2. A PAT may be stored by thetelevision receiver in a similar manner to the NIT. For example, a PMTmay store information on audio PIDs, and/or video PIDs. A PMT storesdata on ECM (entitlement control message) PIDs for television channelsthat are transmitted on a transponder frequency. If, for a firsttelevision channel, multiple television channels are to be tuned to, NIT240 and/or PMT 257 may indicate a second television channel that is tobe tuned to when a first channel is tuned to.

Based on information in the NIT, it may be possible to determine theproper satellite and transponder to which to tune for a particulartelevision channel. In some embodiments, the NIT may list a particularfrequency to which to tune for a particular television channel. Oncetuned to the proper satellite/transponder/frequency, the PMT PID may beused to retrieve a program management table that indicates the PIDs foraudio and video streams of television channels transmitted by thattransponder.

While a large portion of storage space of storage medium 225 is devotedto storage of television programming, a portion may be devoted tostorage of non-audio/video data, such as EPG database 230 and othernon-video/audio data 231. This “other” data may permit televisionreceiver 200 to function properly. In some embodiments, at least tengigabytes are allocated to such other data. For example, if NIT 240 isstored by storage medium 225, it may be part of other non-video/audiodata 226.

User profiles 247 may include stored user preferences. For example, auser may specify a preferred category of television programming, suchas: sports, news, movies, sitcoms, reality, etc. The user may alsospecify whether they prefer broadcast (“live”) television, on-demandprogramming, or recorded television programming (via user or providerdefined timers). In some embodiments, data for a user's profile may bedefined based on measured viewing habits, such as which televisionchannels and/or categories of television programming does the userwatch. User profiles 247 may specify which television programs wererecorded based on timers set by the user associated with a specific userprofile. User profiles 247 may include profiles for multiple users ormay include a single profile for the television receiver in general. Insome embodiments, a user is permitted to select which user profile ofuser profiles 247 is active. For instance, a user can log on totelevision receiver 200.

Decoder module 233 may serve to convert encoded video and audio into aformat suitable for output to a display device. For instance, Decodermodule 233 may receive MPEG video and audio from storage medium 225 ordescrambling engine 265 to be output to a television. MPEG video andaudio from storage medium 225 may have been recorded to DVR database 245as part of a previously-recorded television program. Decoder module 233may convert the MPEG video and audio into a format appropriate to bedisplayed by a television or other form of display device and audio intoa format appropriate to be output from speakers, respectively. Decodermodule 233 may have the ability to convert a finite number of televisionchannel streams received from storage medium 225 or descrambling engine265 simultaneously. For instance, each of decoders 234 within decodermodule 233 may be able to only decode a single television channel at atime. While decoder module 233 is illustrated as having three decoders234 (decoder 234-1, decoder 234-2, and decoder 234-3), in otherembodiments, a greater or fewer number of decoders may be present intelevision receiver 200. A decoder may be able to only decode a singlehigh definition television program at a time. However, a decoder may beable to decode multiple preview clips at the same time. Therefore, ifnine preview clips are being presented as tiles in a CVM simultaneously,only one or two decoders of decoders 234 may be necessary to decode theencoded preview clips.

Television interface 235 may serve to output a signal to a television(or another form of display device) in a proper format for display ofvideo and playback of audio. As such, television interface 235 mayoutput one or more television channels, stored television programmingfrom storage medium 225 (e.g., television programs from DVR database245, television programs from on-demand programming 230 and/orinformation from EPG database 230) to a television for presentation.

Digital Video Recorder (DVR) functionality may permit a televisionchannel to be recorded for a period of time. DVR functionality oftelevision receiver 200 may be managed by control processor 210-1.Control processor 210-1 may coordinate the television channel, starttime, and stop time of when recording of a television channel is tooccur. DVR database 245 may store information related to the recordingof television channels. DVR database 245 may store timers that are usedby control processor 210-1 to determine when a television channel shouldbe tuned to and its programs recorded to DVR database 245 of storagemedium 225. In some embodiments, a limited amount of storage medium 225may be devoted to DVR database 245. Timers may be set by the televisionservice provider and/or one or more users of television receiver 200.

User interface 250 may include a remote control (physically separatefrom television receiver 200) and/or one or more buttons on televisionreceiver 200 that allow a user to interact with television receiver 200.User interface 250 may be used to select a television channel forviewing, view information from EPG database 230, and/or program a timerstored to DVR database 245, wherein the timer is used to control the DVRfunctionality of control processor 210-1. In some embodiments, it may bepossible to load some or all of preferences to a remote control. Assuch, the remote control can serve as a backup storage device for thepreferences.

Referring back to tuners 215, television channels received via satellite(or cable) may contain at least some scrambled data. Packets of audioand video may be scrambled to prevent unauthorized users (e.g.,nonsubscribers) from receiving television programming without paying thetelevision service provider. When a tuner of tuners 215 is receivingdata from a particular transponder of a satellite, the transponderstream may be a series of data packets corresponding to multipletelevision channels. Each data packet may contain a packet identifier(PID), which, in combination with NIT 240 and/or PMT 257, can bedetermined to be associated with a particular television channel.Particular data packets, referred to as entitlement control messages(ECMs), may be periodically transmitted. ECMs may be associated withanother PID and may be encrypted; television receiver 200 may usedecryption engine 261 of smartcard 260 to decrypt ECMs. Decryption of anECM may only be possible if the user has authorization to access theparticular television channel associated with the ECM. When an ECM isdetermined to correspond to a television channel being stored and/ordisplayed, the ECM may be provided to smartcard 260 for decryption.

When smartcard 260 receives an encrypted ECM, smartcard 260 may decryptthe ECM to obtain some number of control words. In some embodiments,from each ECM received by smartcard 260, two control words are obtained.In some embodiments, when smartcard 260 receives an ECM, it compares theECM to the previously received ECM. If the two ECMs match, the secondECM is not decrypted because the same control words would be obtained.In other embodiments, each ECM received by smartcard 260 is decrypted;however, if a second ECM matches a first ECM, the outputted controlwords will match; thus, effectively, the second ECM does not affect thecontrol words output by smartcard 260. Smartcard 260 may be permanentlypart of television receiver 200 or may be configured to be inserted andremoved from television receiver 200.

Tuning management processor 210-2 may be in communication with tuners215 and control processor 210-1. Tuning management processor 210-2 maybe configured to receive commands from control processor 210-1. Suchcommands may indicate when to start/stop recording a television channeland/or when to start/stop causing a television channel to be output to atelevision. Tuning management processor 210-2 may control tuners 215.Tuning management processor 210-2 may provide commands to tuners 215that instruct the tuners which satellite, transponder, and/or frequencyto tune to. From tuners 215, tuning management processor 210-2 mayreceive transponder streams of packetized data. As previously detailed,some or all of these packets may include a PID that identifies thecontent of the packet.

Tuning management processor 210-2 may be configured to create one ormore PID filters 255 that sort packets received from tuners 215 based onthe PIDs. When a tuner is initially tuned to a particular frequency(e.g., to a particular transponder of a satellite), a PID filter may becreated based on the PMT data. The PID created, based on the PMT datapackets, may be known because it is stored as part of NIT 240 or anothertable, such as a program association table (PAT). From the PMT datapackets, PMT may be constructed by tuning management processor 210-2.

PID filters 255 may be configured to filter data packets based on PIDs.In some embodiments, PID filters 255 are created and executed by tuningmanagement processor 210-2. For each television channel to be output forpresentation or recorded, a separate PID filter may be configured. Inother embodiments, separate hardware may be used to create and executesuch PID filters. Depending on a television channel selected forrecording/viewing, a PID filter may be created to filter the video andaudio packets associated with the television channel (based on the PIDassignments present in PMT 257). For example, if a transponder datastream includes multiple television channels, data packets correspondingto a television channel that is not desired to be stored or displayed bythe user may be ignored by PID filters 255. As such, only data packetscorresponding to the one or more television channels desired to bestored and/or displayed may be filtered and passed to eitherdescrambling engine 265 or smartcard 260; other data packets may beignored. For each television channel, a stream of video packets, astream of audio packets (one or both of the audio programs) and/or astream of ECM packets may be present, each stream identified by a PID.In some embodiments, a common ECM stream may be used for multipletelevision channels. Additional data packets corresponding to otherinformation, such as updates to NIT 240, may be appropriately routed byPID filters 255. At a given time, one or multiple PID filters may beexecuted by tuning management processor 210-2. Similar to a PID filterbeing created for a particular television channel, a PID filter may becreated for timing signals for use in determining the location of thetelevision receiver.

Descrambling engine 265 may use the control words output by smartcard260 in order to descramble video and/or audio corresponding totelevision channels for storage and/or presentation. Video and/or audiodata contained in the transponder data stream received by tuners 215 maybe scrambled. Video and/or audio data may be descrambled by descramblingengine 265 using a particular control word. Which control word output bysmartcard 260 to be used for successful descrambling may be indicated bya scramble control identifier present within the data packet containingthe scrambled video or audio. Descrambled video and/or audio may beoutput by descrambling engine 265 to storage medium 225 for storage (inDVR database 245) and/or to decoder module 233 for output to atelevision or other presentation equipment via television interface 235.

External storage device 252 may represent an external, detachablecomputer-readable non-transitory storage device. The storage device maybe memory, a hard drive, or some other type of device for storingcomputer-readable data. The user may be permitted to connect anddisconnect external storage device 252 to increase and decrease anamount of storage space available for storing on-demand programming,service provider-managed television programming, and/or user managedtelevision programming.

For simplicity, television receiver 200 of FIG. 2 has been reduced to ablock diagram; commonly known parts, such as a power supply, have beenomitted. Further, some routing between the various modules of televisionreceiver 200 has been illustrated. Such illustrations are for exemplarypurposes only. The state of two modules not being directly or indirectlyconnected does not indicate the modules cannot communicate. Rather,connections between modules of the television receiver 200 are intendedonly to indicate possible common data routing. It should be understoodthat the modules of television receiver 200 may be combined into a fewernumber of modules or divided into a greater number of modules. Further,the components of television receiver 200 may be part of another device,such as built into a television. Television receiver 200 may include oneor more instances of various computerized components, such as disclosedin relation to computer system 1400 of FIG. 14.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a disruption analysis engine 300 fordetermining unavailable programming streams and determining the cause ofthe programming disruption. The disruption analysis engine 300 may bepart of the programming disruption analysis engine 211 of the televisionreceiver 200 of FIG. 2. While the programming disruption analysis engine211 is illustrated as being executed by control processor 210-1, itshould be understood that the functionality of disruption analysisengine 300 may be distributed among various components of televisionreceiver 200. Disruption analysis engine 300 may include: a signalstrength analyzer 308, signature comparator 302, a collection or adatabase of signal strength signatures 314, a disruption tracking table304, a reporting module 316, a notification engine 306, a programmingengine 312, and a tuner allocation and scheduler engine 318.

The tuner allocation and scheduler engine 318 may be configured toallocate or request allocation of tuner resources. The tuner allocationand scheduler engine 318 may identify tuners that are not used by a userfor viewing or recording of programming. Available tuners may beallocated to monitor the signal strength of data and programmingstreams. Tuners may be allocated to a programming stream and monitor thesignal strength. In embodiments all available tuners, tuners that arenot used by a user, may be allocated for monitoring of signal strength.In embodiments, a receiver may have fewer tuners than there areprogramming streams so not all streams can be monitored simultaneously.In embodiments, available tuners may be tuned to different programmingstreams to monitor or check the signal strength of all the availablestreams. In embodiments, the programming streams may be sequentiallymonitored by the available tuners until the signal strength of everystream has been checked.

The tuner allocation and scheduler engine may allocate available tunersequally among all of the programming streams. In some embodiments, theprogramming streams that the user has identified to watch the most maybe given preferential treatment and monitored more frequently than otherprogramming streams. Programming streams may be prioritized or ratedbased on the viewing habits of the user and/or user preferences.Programming streams that are often viewed by the user may be monitoredmore often than programming streams that the user never or infrequentlywatches. Active programming or programming streams that have timers,labeled as “favorites”, and/or the like may be preferentially monitored.Preferential monitoring may include allocating available tuners forsignal strength monitoring to the prioritized streams first. In someembodiments, the signal strength of prioritized programming streams maybe monitored at least every minute, or every 10 seconds or less. Thetuner allocation for signal strength monitoring may depend on the activeprofile of the user, the time of the day, day of the week, currentchannel being watched and/or the like. For example, when a user iswatching a programming stream identified as of a specific genre (e.g.kids, science, cooking, etc.) it may be likely that a change inprogramming selection may be to another programming stream of the samegenre. The television receiver may identify programming streams havingcontent of the same genre and allocate tuners for preferential signalstrength monitoring of these programming streams.

Available tuners may be allocated to perform signal strength monitoringin the background using available resources not used or allocated by auser for other purposes such that the user may not even be aware thatthe monitoring is being performed.

In some embodiments the tuner allocation and scheduler engine may useadaptive allocation techniques. The tuner allocation and schedulerengine may, for example, allocate tuners to monitor programming streamsmore frequently when the signal strength of the stream is below aspecific threshold or has been identified to be decreasing. In oneinstance, the tuner allocation and scheduler engine 318 may firstallocate available tuners to monitor the signal strength of all theprogramming streams. The initial monitoring may be used to determine abaseline signal strength reading. After several iterations of checkingthe signal strength of all programming streams more available tuners maybe allocated to monitoring programming streams that have shown adecrease in signal strength from the initial baseline readings.

The tuner allocation and scheduler engine may also allocate availabletuners for receiving data from the service provider related to thepossible stream disruption. A tuner may be allocated to periodicallyreceive data related to possible or planned disruptions. The tunerallocation and scheduler engine may adaptively allocate tuner resourcesto monitoring programming streams based on the received data.

For example, the television receiver may receive data related topossible signal obstruction due to weather conditions. The signalobstruction may be determined to affect a specific satellite signal orset of programming streams. The tuner allocation and scheduler enginemay allocate more available tuner resource for monitoring the signalstrength of the programming streams that may be affected by the weatherconditions. In some embodiments, the programming streams may bemonitored twice or three times more often than other programmingstreams.

The signal characteristics from the tuners may be received and analyzedby the signal strength analyzer 308. The signal characteristics mayinclude signal strength, bit error rates, attenuation, signal noisemetrics, and/or the like. The signal strength analyzer may monitor thesignal strength for each programming stream. In embodiments the signalstrength analyzer 308 may perform comparisons or other operations oneach signal strength data received. The signal strength analyzer 308 maycompare the signal strength to set thresholds or baselines for example.If the signal strength of the stream is below a threshold or baseline,the signal strength analyzer 308 may signal other components (e.g. thenotification engine) to take further action.

In embodiments, the signal strength analyzer 308 may record and save thesignal strength data for each programming stream. The signal strengthdata may be accumulated and analyzed to determine signal trends orsignal signatures. In embodiments the signal strength analyzer 308 mayanalyze accumulated signal strength data to determine a signalsignature. A signal signature may be numerical representations capturingchanges in the signal strength. The changes in signal strength may beused by the signal strength analyzer to determine or help to determinethe cause of a signal strength fade.

For example, the characteristics of the signal strength changes, therate of signal strength decrease, and the like may be indicative of thecause of the signal obstruction. A fast and abrupt signal strengthdecrease may, for example, be indicative or a specific type oftransponder failure. A slower more gradual signal strength decrease may,in another example, be indicative of a weather condition such as cloudcover that may slowly cause an obstruction of the satellite signal. Thecharacteristics of the signal changes may be analyzed and compared to adataset of known signatures. In embodiments the signal strength analyzer308 may generate a signature for each programming stream. In someembodiments a signature may be generated for a set of programmingstreams.

In embodiments, a dataset of known or baseline signal strengthsignatures 314 may be stored in the system. The dataset may includesignatures for common or representative set of signal disruptions. Thedataset may include signatures for disruptions from common weatherpatterns or hardware failures.

A signature comparator 302 may be used to match a signature for aprogramming stream generated by the signal strength analyzer 308 withthat of the baseline signal strength signatures 314 stored on thesystem. The signature comparator 302 may use statistical analysis todetermine the likelihood of a cause of a signal disruption based on thesignature. The output of the signature comparator 302 may be used byother modules like the notification engine 306.

In embodiments the signature comparator 302 may use data received from aservice provider for determining the likelihood of the cause of thedisruption of the signal. Incoming data from the service provider mayindicate an incoming weather system that may disrupt the signal. Inlight of this data, the signature comparator 302 may weigh or givepreferential treatment or weighing of baseline signatures correspondingto weather events.

The service provider may, in some cases, transmit signal strengthsignatures to the receiver that are related to a predicted or expectedsignal disruption. The signatures may correspond to a specific weathercondition that is affecting the geographical area of the receiver. Thesignal strength signatures, weather information, signal degradationpredictions, and/or the like may be transmitted to the receiver via thesatellite signal and/or broadband/internet connection or communicationchannel.

The weather information, signatures, and other disruption related datatransmitted from the service provider to the receiver may include datafor a wide geographical area that is covered by the satellite signal.Many of the data pertaining to weather information may be only relevantto receivers in specific geographic locations where the weather event isoccurring. In embodiments the data received by the receiver from thesatellite may include tags or geographic information for which the datais relevant. The receiver may be configured to ignore disruption relateddata that are outside of its geographic location. A receiver may beconfigured by a user or from GPS or satellite data to determine itsgeographic location. Signatures, weather data, and other programmingdisruption data that pertain only to the geographic location of thereceiver may be accepted or processed.

In some cases, signal strength signatures may be used directly toidentify the cause of a disruption with a high degree of confidence. Anobserved signal strength signature may have unique characteristicsallowing the television receiver to correlate or attribute the signaldisruption to a specific cause. In some cases, the observed signalstrength characteristics may be similar to one or more base signaturesmaking it difficult to uniquely identify the cause of the disruption byanalyzing only the signal signatures. In some embodiments, supplementalinformation may be used by the television receiver to determine a likelycause of the signal disruption. For example, slow degradation of signalstrength may be consistent with signatures associated with severalcauses. For example, a slow degradation of signal over a month or moremay be consistent with signatures or characteristics associated withfoliage encroachment or debris accumulation. As trees gain foliage inthe spring, for example, the satellite signal may be slowly obstructed.Likewise, loose dish connections or the dish may be connected to anobject that moves over time, such as a deteriorating structure, mayslowly disrupt the programming signal. Supplemental information such asfoliage data, season data, and the like may be used to distinguishbetween the two likely causes. Data regarding foliage conditions for thegeographic location of the receiver may be used to determine if foliageencroachment is a likely cause. If the disruption occurs during the timeof the year and locations where foliage is minimal, such as winter inNew York, for example, other causes may be analyzed or givenpreferential treatment.

In some embodiments a television receiver may correlate informationrelated to the relative position and orientation of the satellites fromwhich the programming streams are received. A television receiver mayreceive programming from multiple satellites via multiple feed horns.Each feed horn may be configured for reception from a particularsatellite at a particular azimuth, angle, and/or elevation. In somecases the disruptions to signals may be isolated to a specific feedhorn, or may be correlated to a specific direction or pattern of fadeacross the feed horns. For example, the signals may be disrupted thatare consistent with an east-to-west or west-to-east disruption of thefeed horns. The directionality of the disruptions, or isolation of thedisruption to a specific feed horn may be used as to determine a causeof a disruption. For example, west-to-east disruption pattern of thefeed horns may be correlated to moving clouds. Weather systems in manygeographic locations follow a west-to-east path. A moving cloud systemmay consistently result in disruptions of feed horns in a west-to-eastpattern over a large geographical area.

Based on the output of the signature comparator and/or signal strengthanalyzer, a disruption tracking table 304 may be maintained in thereceiver. The disruption tracking table 304, may keep an active statusof the programming disruptions. The tracking table may include thelikely cause of the disruption as determined by the receiver and/orreceived from the service provider. The data may include the length oftime the disruption has continued and the expected end time of thedisruption. The disruption data may be maintained for each programmingstream, each television channel, and/or each satellite. The disruptiontracking table may include a history of programming disruptions thatoccurred in the past day, month, year, for example and any futurepredicted or expected programming disruptions. The disruption trackingtable 304 may be periodically and/or continuously updated as newdisruption data is received or a disruption is determined by thesignature comparator 302 and/or the signal strength analyzer 308.

The disruption tracking table 304 may be used to quickly determine thestatus and cause of the disruption. The disruption tracking table 304and/or the data from the table may be accessible to other elements ofthe receiver, such as the EPG. A programming guide may incorporate thedata from the disruption tracking table 304 by including indications ofthe status of each channel. In some cases, the receiver may beconfigured to not show the disrupted programming streams on aprogramming guide and in some cases not enable the system to prevent auser from navigating or tuning to one of the disrupted programmingstreams.

When a user navigates to a disrupted channel, or when a channel a useris watching or recording experiences a disruption, the notificationengine 306 may be activated to transmit a notification that may bedisplayed to the user regarding the status and cause of the disruption.The notification engine 306 may be configured to access the data fromthe disruption tracking table 304 and generate a friendly and/orinformative message to display to the user that may include the statusof the disruptions, the cause of the disruption, expected timeremaining, length of time the disruption has been active, and/or thelike. The message may be formatted such that it may be displayed as apop-up or a banner on the screen of a television for example. Forexample, when a user attempts to tune to a channel whose signal has beendisrupted by a weather condition the notification engine 306 maygenerate a message such as “Sorry, this channel is currently unavailabledue to heavy rain in your area. Don't worry the rain is expected to passshortly and your channel will be available in 5 minutes.” The messagemay be displayed on the user's screen as a banner on the bottom or inthe center of the screen.

The notification engine 306 may be activated when a user schedules areminder or a recording of a channel or a program that may be expectedto be disrupted. A scheduled maintenance event, for example, that maydisrupt some programming may be scheduled for the time the user may havea recording set. The notification engine 306 may be configured to accessdata from the disruption tracking table 304 and generate a message or anindication that may be displayed to a user regarding the possibledisruption including its causes and characteristics.

In some embodiments, when a user navigates to a disrupted channel, orwhen a channel a user is watching or recording experiences a disruption,the programming engine 312 may generate or indicate to the system togenerate a list of alternative available programming. The programmingengine 312 may be configured to access data from the disruption trackingtable 304 to determine available channels and programming. From theavailable programming list the programming engine 312 may generate alist of similar programming currently available. The suggestions may begenerated based on user viewing preferences, user profile, viewinghabits, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the programming engine 312 may be configured toautomatically find alternative sources of the channel or programming theuser was trying to watch or record. For some programming an alternativesource may be simultaneously available on a different satellite, throughthe internet, on the DVR, or the like. For example, when a movie a useris watching is disrupted, the programming engine 312 may automaticallylocate another available source for the movie and tune the tuner orreceiver to the source. If the movie the user was watching was in highdefinition, for example, and was disrupted, another channel that may beregular definition may have the same movie simultaneously available. Theprogramming engine 312 may generate a notification and/or automaticallytune to the other sources of programming.

In embodiments the system may include a reporting module 316 configuredto report the status, signal strength, signal signatures, and other datato the service provider. The data may be communicated through ansatellite uplink connection and/or via an internet or broadbandconnection or communication channel. The reporting module may transmitor upload data to the service provider when disruptions or weak signalstrengths are discovered. The service provider may use the data fromusers to diagnose network problems, predict disruptions, and othertasks.

During a disruption of programming the user was recording or watchingthe receiver may monitor the signal strength to determine if thedisruption has ended. In embodiments the system may continuously orperiodically check the signal strength of the disrupted programming. Insome embodiments the receiver may automatically try to tune back to thedisrupted programming after a predetermined time or the expected timewhen the disruption is expected to have ended.

In embodiments, when the disruption to programming has ended, or hadbeen detected to have ended, the television receiver may notify theuser. In embodiments, when a user has navigated away from the disruptedprogramming stream, the system may automatically tune back to theprogramming stream that experienced the disruption. In some embodiments,the user may be notified with a popup window or banner asking if theuser would like to tune back to the previously disrupted programmingstream. In other embodiments, the user may be prompted with only anotification that the programming disruption has ended. The types ofnotifications received by the user when the programming disruption hasended may be set by a user profile or user preferences.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a service provider analysis system400 that may be used by the service provider system for analyzing andprocessing signal strength data from receivers. It should be understoodthat the functionality of service provider analysis system 400 may bedistributed among various components of a television service providersystem 110. The system may receive signal strength data from receiversas well as any signatures the receivers may have generated. The serviceprovider analysis system 400 may also receive data related to theprogramming viewing habits of the user, weather forecast information,and other network status information. The service provider analysissystem 400 may process the information and generate distilled orpertinent weather information. The weather information output by theservice provider analysis system 400 may be limited to weather systemsthat may be strong enough to cause obstructions to the satellitesignals. The service provider analysis system 400 may also outputdisruption predictions based on weather, solar, and other events. Theweather data and disruption predictions may be geographically tagged orlabeled to allow receivers to process data relevant to their specificgeographic locations. The system may also generate and distribute newsignal signatures to use as baselines for diagnosing disruptions by thereceivers. Likewise, any programming changes or updates may becommunicated to the receivers. The service provider analysis system 400may output the data for transmittal via the satellites such that thedata may be received by the tuners of the receivers. In someembodiments, the service provider analysis system 400 may include: asignal data aggregator 402, signal data analyzer 406, a disruptionnotification engine 408, a signature generator 404, a programmingredistribution engine 412, and a disruption predictor 410.

The signal data aggregator 402 of the service provider analysis system400 may be configured to receive signal data from the receivers via asatellite, broadband communication, and/or other communication channelsand arrange and store the data in a database or a data structure suchthat the data may be easily searched, queried, and analyzed. The data ofthe receivers may be coupled or associated with the geographic locationof the receivers. The data may include signal strength data, signalsignatures, programming information and other data from the receivers.

The signal data analyzer 406 may be configured to parse the aggregatedsignal data. The signal data analyzer 406 may parse the data todetermine trends in disruptions and correlate or associate thedisruptions based on weather, solar, equipment failure, or other events.For example, the data analyzer engine may determine a sudden increase inprogramming reports from a specific geographic area. The signal dataanalyzer 406 may then parse or analyze incoming weather information todetermine if there are weather events in the geographic location of thedisruptions.

Based on the analysis from the signal data analyzer 406 a disruptionpredictor 410 may determine or calculate the future spread or relocationof a programming disruption. For example, based on the analysis from thesignal data analyzer 406, a weather event that has been correlated orattributed to a set of disruptions reported by receivers may be analyzedfurther to determine its trajectory, strength, and the like. Based ontrajectory and/or strength, the disruption predictor may determine whatreceivers or what geographic areas are likely to experience additionaldisruptions.

The signature generator 404 may, based on the analysis from the signaldata analyzer 406, determine signal signatures of disruptions. Based oncorrelations from weather patterns and signal disruptions, specificsignal disruptions signatures may be assumed to be related to thespecific storm, for example.

In some embodiments, service provider analysis system 400 may alsoinclude a programming redistribution engine 412 which may be configuredto monitor viewing habits and/or statistics of users. The programmingredistribution engine 412 may monitor signal disruptions to determine ifthe disruption are affecting important or popular programming streams.The redistribution engine may allocate another satellite or unusedbandwidth of a programming stream that is not affected by the disruptionto transmit the popular programming. The programming redistributionengine 412 may generate notification for the receivers to indicatealternate sources of the programming in case of a disruption.

The disruption notification engine 408 may collect the predictions fromthe disruption predictor 410, signatures from the signature generator404, and programming changes or updates from the programmingredistribution engine 412 and package and format the data fortransmission to receivers via a satellite signal.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a method 500 for monitoring thesignal strength of a programming stream. Method 500 may be performedusing the systems previously described. For instance, satellitetelevision distribution system 100, television receiver 200, and/orprogramming disruption analysis engine 211 of FIGS. 1-2, respectively,may be used to perform method 500. Components of such systems may beimplemented using hardware, software, and/or firmware. Further, theperformance of method 500 may include one or more instances of thecomponents of computer system 1400 of FIG. 14. As such, means forperforming each step of method 500 can include one or more instances ofthe following: one or more components of satellite televisiondistribution system 100, one or more components of television receiver200, one or more components of disruption analysis engine 300, and/orone or more components of computer system 1400 of FIG. 14.

At step 502, a tuner may be allocated for monitoring the characteristicsof the signal of a programming stream. The tuner may be allocated basedon the availability of tuners. In some receivers only an available tuner(e.g., not being used to receive television programming for output orrecord) may be allocated for monitoring operations. In some embodimentsthe signal strength of the programming streams being watched or recordedby the user may be monitored by the same tuners that are receiving theprogramming stream. In embodiments a different tuner may be allocated tomonitor the signal strength of the programming stream being activelywatched or recorded by the user.

At step 504, the tuner may be configured to continuously or periodicallymonitor the signal strength, noise, interference, signal quality, andthe like of a programming stream. The tuner may monitor signal strengthchanges, trends, signatures and the like as outlined herein. In someembodiments the programming streams actively watched or recorded by theuser may be given higher monitoring priority. The signal strength ofactively watched or recorded programming streams may be monitoredcontinuously or more frequently than for other programming streams.Unused tuners may be allocated to monitor the signal strength of activeprogramming streams. In some embodiments, the receiver may prioritizethe monitoring of programming streams based on user's viewing patterns,viewing histories, preferences, and the like. The signal strength ofprogramming streams the user watches more frequently may be monitoredmore closely with a greater frequency, for example. Programming streamsdesigned as “favorites” by the user may be monitored every minute, orevery ten seconds or less. Programming streams that the user neverwatches may be monitored less frequently or never monitored. Theprioritization of programming stream signal strength monitoring maychange depending on the time of day, active user, active user profile,day of the week, special programming, and/or the like.

At step 506, a receiver may receive data or notifications about plannedor potential programming stream disruptions. The notifications mayinclude the cause of the disruption, the expected disruption time, andthe like. A notification may, for example, include weather eventinformation that may disrupt the programming stream. In someembodiments, the programming streams that are identified as potentiallybeing affected by a weather event or other disruption may be designedfor high monitoring prioritization and monitored more frequently.

At step 508, the notification may be stored at the receiver for lateruse. The notifications may be available for access by a user. Thenotifications may be displayed with or as part of an electronicprogramming guide, for example. Such a notification may be presentedwhen a user attempts to tune to an affected television channel.

At step 510, the tuner may monitor the signal strength of theprogramming stream to determine if the signal is below a specificthreshold value. When the signal strength of the programming stream isfading and drops below a threshold it may indicate that the programmingstream will experience disruptions. The threshold may be set to a signallevel slightly higher (1 or 10 or more dB) than a minimal signalstrength necessary for proper programming stream reception. In someembodiments, the threshold may be set to a signal strength level that isbelow or right at the minimum signal strength level for properreceptions of the programming stream.

At step 512, the television receiver may detect that a user is tuned toor may be trying to tune to a programming stream that has been disruptedor with a signal strength that is below the set threshold.

At step 514 the receiver may output a message for display (or otherwiseoutput, such as via audio) to the user regarding the signal strength ofthe programming stream the user is tuned to or may be trying to access.The message may include information from the notification received bythe receiver and may include a cause of the disruption, expectedduration, and the like. In some embodiments the message may includeother programming suggestions or other sources of the programming theuser was trying to access. For example, the message may include achannel number or a link to an alternative programming stream that hasthe same or similar programming that is not experiencing a disruption.In some embodiments the unavailable or disrupted programming may beautomatically skipped or not displayed when a user is navigatingsearching for channels. The unavailable or disrupted channels may beidentified as temporarily unavailable in the programming guide withoptionally an expected time the programming stream is expected to beunavailable. In some embodiments the programming guide may includedifferent colors, shading, or other effects to show the time for whichthe programming may be disrupted or unavailable.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a method for generating disruptionpredictions by a service provider. Method 600 may be performed using thesystems previously described. For instance, satellite televisiondistribution system 100 of FIG. 1 may be used to perform method 600.Components of such systems may be implemented using hardware, software,and/or firmware. Further, the performance of method 600 may include oneor more instances of the components of computer system 1400 of FIG. 14.

At step 602, the service provider system may receive and aggregatesignal strength data from receivers in the network. Such information maybe sent to the service provider system via an Internet connection (e.g.,network 190). The data may include changes to signal strength,disruptions, and the like. The data may include geographic informationof the receiver which generated the data. In some embodiments, thegeographic information may include a zip code, address, televisionreceiver identifier, or account identifier. The service provider may usea television receiver identifier or account identifier to look up alocation for the television receiver based on information gathered froma user when a user account was created or last modified.

At step 604, the received data may be analyzed to determine trends orgeographic patterns to the disruptions. Clustering or other algorithmsmay be used to find patterns or clusters of disruptions or weakprogramming signals. For instance, for a particular geographic region, aweather event may cause a similar signal strength loss to occur atgeographically grouped television receivers. At step 606, the geographicpatterns may be analyzed and compared to data or data related to weatherevents, solar events, network infrastructure data, and the like.

At step 608, the system may generate predictions for possibledisruptions based on the current disruptions and the weather, solar, andnetwork data. For example, if a cluster of disruptions is identified tobe related to a weather event, predictions for additional disruptionsmay be generated based on the trajectory and/or strength of the weatherevent. As an example, if a weather system is moving west to east, if anoutage is occurring for television receivers in a first zip code, aprediction may be made for zip codes to the east of the first zip code.

At step 610, the predictions may be classified according to theirlikelihood. A prediction may be, for example, classified on a class 1-3scale with class one being high likely (90%+ chance of occurring) andclass 3 as moderately likely (less than 40% chance of occurring). Atstep 612 the system may generate notifications based on the predictionsand at step 614 transmit the notifications to receivers.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a method 700 for providingalternative programming during a disruption. Method 700 may be performedusing the systems previously described. For instance, satellitetelevision distribution system 100, television receiver 200, and/orprogramming disruption analysis engine 211 of FIGS. 1-2, respectively,may be used to perform method 700. Components of such systems may beimplemented using hardware, software, and/or firmware. Further, theperformance of method 700 may include one or more instances of thecomponents of computer system 1400 of FIG. 14.

At step 702 the system may identify the disrupted programming stream andthe programming (e.g., movie, show, sporting event) the user may betrying to access. At step 704 the system may try to identify alternativesources of the programming that user is trying to access. The system mayparse programming guide information or query other parts of the receiverto identify the programming. Alternative programming sources may includeprogramming streams on different satellites, programming from theinternet, broadcast programming, recorded programming, and the like. Thealternative programming may be lower quality or a different release insome cases. When the alternative programming is identified, the systemmay at step 714, choose the programming stream with the best quality ormost likely not have disruptions. At step 716, the system mayautomatically tune to the alternative programming stream. In some casesthe system may prompt the user for input to determine if the useraccepts tuning to the alternative programming stream.

If the system cannot find the same programming available in a differentprogramming stream, the system may try to find similar programming thatis not disrupted that the user may like to watch based on the user'spreferences, profile, or similarities with the programming the user wastrying to access. At step 708, the system may load user programmingpreferences and profile. At step 710, the system may access aprogramming guide or query other elements of the receiver to identifysimilar programming or programming that matches the user's profile andpreferences. At step 718 the availability of the programming streams ofthe identified programming may be verified to avoid. Programs associatedwith programming streams with a weak signal or predicted disturbancesmay be filtered by the system. At step 712, the system may generatesuggestions for alternative programming to the user.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of a method 800 for generating a signalstrength signature. Method 800 may be performed using the systemspreviously described. For instance, satellite television distributionsystem 100, television receiver 200, and/or programming disruptionanalysis engine 211 and/or the disruption analysis engine 300 of FIGS.1-2, may be used to perform method 800. Components of such systems maybe implemented using hardware, software, and/or firmware. Further, themethod 800 may include one or more instances of the components ofcomputer system 1400 of FIG. 14. In embodiments, signature generationmay occur at special training times in a controlled environment or testbed. In some embodiments, signature generation may be occur based onanalysis of real signal readings from receivers deployed to customers.At step 802 the disruption analysis engine 300 may receive signalstrength data from receivers. The data may be transmitted from areceivers to the prediction system when a receiver observes a drop insignal strength or a disruption. The signal strength data may be astream of data points that includes a signal strength readings formultiple time instances. In some cases, the signal strength data mayinclude other representations of changes in the signal strength such asrepresentative curve equations that define the behavior of the signal.The signal data may be associated with time. Each data sequence may beassociated with a real time using a real-time clock or other reliabletime sources. The time of different receivers may be synchronizedallowing correlation and comparison between different signal data.

In step 804 changes in the signal strength readings may be correlated orassociated with known causes of the disruption or decrease in signalstrength. In controlled environments the causes may be controlled orcreated by the system operators. In deployed systems the causes may beknown weather events, network disruptions, and the like. In step 806 thesystem may analyze the signal strength readings. The signal strength maybe analyzed and reformatted to determine the most suitable domain ordata representation for the behavior of the signal readings. In somecases the data may be analyzed and reprocessed in the frequency domain,for example. In step 808 the system may determine characteristicfeatures of the signal strength data at the times the disruption eventsare known to have occurred. The signal data may have one or moredefining features such as a dip in signal strength, a sharp decrease, ora specific pattern that may be unique to the cause of the signaldisruption. Signal strength readings from multiple receivers may beanalyzed to determine variations in the characteristics and patterns. Instep 810 a signature may be generated from one or more receiver readingsand analyzed characteristics. In some embodiments, the signature may bean average of the received signal strength readings. In someembodiments, the signature may be any convenient or appropriaterepresentation of the reading data that allows a reliable identificationof the features and characteristics of the signal. Each signature may beassociated with the known cause of the signal disruptions. Thesignatures may be used to compare to signal readings to identify apossible cause for unknown disruptions.

FIGS. 9A and 9B depicts example embodiments of two different signalstrength signatures. The signatures may represent a specific behavior ofthe signal strength with respect to time as measured by a televisionreceiver via a satellite dish antenna. The signature may have specificcharacteristics such as the time of the change, the magnitude of thechange, and/or other characteristics. For example, the signature shownin FIG. 9A depicts a slowly fading signal over a time period dT. Thetime period may be over a week or even a month. Such a signature may beindicative of a disruption caused by slow foliage encroachment into thepath of the satellite dish. Growing trees or blooming trees in thespring month of the year may slowly decrease the signal strength. FIG.9B depicts a sharp and temporary dip in the signal strength. The dip mayhave a duration dT of a couple hours or a day. Such a signature may beindicative of a disruption caused by a fast moving weather event withheavy rain or clouds that may temporarily block the signal from thesatellite. Signal strength readings may be compared to the signaturessuch as those depicted in FIGS. 9A and 9B. The closest matchingsignature may be used to determine the cause of the observed signalbehavior or disruption.

FIG. 10 illustrates an embodiment of a method 1000 for using a signalsignature to diagnose a cause of a disruption at a receiver. Method 1000may be performed using the systems previously described. Components ofsuch systems may be implemented using hardware, software, and/orfirmware. Further, the method 1000 may include one or more instances ofthe components of computer system 1400 of FIG. 14. In step 1002 thereceiver, using tuner, may monitor the signal strength. The signalstrength readings may be recorded and written into memory. The readingsmay be analyzed to determine a characteristic of the readings and thedisruption in the readings. The characteristics may include the time ofthe disruption, the frequency domain characteristics, acceleration ofchanges in signal readings, and/or the like. In step 1006, theidentified characteristics may be used to search a repository of signalsignatures to identify a subset of signatures that matches thecharacteristics, such a repository may be stored locally by a televisionreceiver or may be maintained remotely by a television service provider.In step 1008 the subset of signatures that match the identifiedcharacteristics may be further analyzed. Additional analysis may beperformed to determine the signature in the subset of signatures thatprovides the best match with the recorded data. In step 1010 the causeof the disruption may be determined to be the cause associated with thematching signature. An indication of the type of disruption may beindicated to the user, such as in the form of a displayed message orauditory message. The indication may also include a message ofrecommendations for correcting the issue.

Nefarious activity, such as “account packing” may be detected by usingsignal disruptions. “Account packing” refers to a user or group of usersindicating that multiple television receivers are installed at aparticular location, such as a house, as part of a group subscription(e.g., a household subscription for four television receivers to beinstalled within a single household). Typically, a user receives adiscount for having multiple television receivers installed in a singlehousehold. “Account packers” falsify information such that thetelevision service provider believes that a group of televisionreceivers are installed at a single location, but in reality suchtelevision receivers are distributed at multiple locations (e.g., one ateach residence of the persons participating in the account packingscheme). Typically, this form of fraud is performed to save the accountpackers from each having to pay full price for their respectivesubscriptions (that is, a group subscription for multiple televisionreceivers intended for a single household is almost always cheaper thanindividual subscriptions for the same number of television receivers).

FIG. 11 illustrates an embodiment of a method 1100 for determiningaccount packing using a predictable disruption. Method 1100 may beperformed using the systems previously described, such as one or moretelevision receivers and a television service provider system, such asillustrated in FIG. 1. Components of such systems may be implementedusing hardware, software, and/or firmware. Further, the method 1100 mayinclude one or more instances of the components of computer system ofFIG. 14. In step 1102 the geographic location of a television receiverwhere the receiver is supported to be located may be determined. Thelocation may be manually entered by a user, determined or received froma GPS sensor, determined from identifiers or location of a networkconnection, or determined by the user's account information. Thelocation may be specific identifying the exact street or building wherethe television receiver is deployed. In some cases the location may begeneral and may roughly identify a town, a city, county or longitude orlatitude coordinates. For an account packer, such location informationmay be incorrect (e.g., intentionally falsified).

In step 1104, the television receiver may monitor an occurrence ofexpected/known geographically unique disruptions such as during a solarconjunction event or the like. A solar conjunction may represent aspecific type of signal degradation or outage, based on the sun beingapproximately in line with the line-of-sight between a satellite and asatellite dish. The large amounts of RF noise output by the sun mayoverwhelm the satellite dish, thus greatly decreasing the signalstrength from the satellite or rendering the satellite's signalundetectable. The receiver may monitor the characteristics of thedisruption. The duration, timing, and types of the disruption may bemonitored and recorded. The television receiver may have or receive anindication or an estimate of the timing and type of disruption thereceiver may experience due to a solar conjunction. Such timing may behighly predictable because the location of the satellite and thelocation of the sun in the sky can be calculated for a given geographiclocation. If the solar conjunction event occurs on time, the televisiondish receiving the signal is likely located in the geographic locationdetermined at step 1102. However, if the solar conjunction occurs atanother time or does not occur, the geographic location determined atstep 1102 may be false, and may be indicative of account packing.

The television service provider may provide a television receiver withan indication of when an outage or signal degradation is expected tooccur based on a calculation involving the location of the satellite andthe position of the sun in the sky (which is based on the earth's orbitof the sun and the earth's rotation) based on the geographic location ofstep 1102. The television receiver may start monitoring operation beforethe initial expected time of the disruption. The television receiver maymonitor aspects of the disruption related to the disrupted channels orsatellites, the sequence of disruptions, the magnitude of thedisruptions, the magnitude of the signal degradation, and/or the like.For disruption due to solar conjunction, for example, the televisionreceiver may monitor the sequence of disruptions of the programmingstreams. Programming streams associated with satellites in the east mayexperience disruptions before programming streams associated withsatellites in the west. The relative duration of disruptions forprogramming streams associated with each satellite may be recorded.

In step 1106 the recorded characteristics may be analyzed and used todetermine or used in prediction of characteristics of subsequentdisruptions. Subsequent disruptions may have very similar predictablecharacteristics for a geographic location. After the characteristics aredetermined it may be expected that future disruptions may have verysimilar characteristics. If the television receiver and the receivingdish are not moved to a significantly different geographical locationthe characteristics of the disruption may be periodic and predictableaccording to the predicted characteristics. However, if the disruptionsare observed from a different physical location the predictedcharacteristics of the disruption may be different. For instance, if asolar conjunction occurs at a particular time one day, a similar eventmay be expected to occur the next day at a similar time.

In step 1108, subsequent disruptions may be monitored. Based on theprediction of the characteristics the exact timing of the subsequentdisruptions may be determined. The characteristics of the subsequentdisruptions may be recorded and compared to the predicted or expectedcharacteristics in step 1110. If the predictions match observations themonitoring of the next disruption may be scheduled.

If the predictions of the characteristics (based on a monitoredoccurrences of step 1104 and/or information receiver from a televisionservice provider) do not match the observations, the receiver may bereceiving programming streams at a physical location that may bedifferent from the location of the receiver and the receiver may be aparticipant in account packing. As well other conditions may also factorinto different observed outages and signal disruptions between differentgeographic locations. For example, if the disruption occurs earlier thanexpected or predicted, such as 20 seconds or more, the televisionreceiver may be located in a geographic location other than the locationdetermined at step 1102. The television receiver may disable itself orlimit its functionality in step 1112. The television receiver may beconfigured to provide to the user an indication, such as a banner on theuser's television instructing the user to contact customer support sothat the discrepancy between the predicted and observed characteristicsof the disruption may be investigated or resolved in step 1114.

FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment of a method 1200 for determiningaccount packing using regional disruption data. Method 1200 may beperformed using the systems previously described. Components of suchsystems may be implemented using hardware, software, and/or firmware.Further, the method 1200 may include one or more instances of thecomponents of computer system of FIG. 14. In step 1202 the geographiclocation of a television receiver may be determined. The location may bemanually entered by a user, determined or received from a GPS sensor,determined from identifiers or location of a network connection, ordetermined by the user's account information. For account packers, thelocation determined at step 1202 may be false due to the user falsifyinginformation about where the television receiver and satellite dish isinstalled. In step 1204, the signal strength of other televisionreceivers in the same geographic area may be monitored. The signalstrength readings of television receivers in a same geographic area maybe compared to one another to identify anomalies or receivers that havedifferent signal strength characteristics than the majority of receiversin the same geographic area. Weather events or solar events may beexpected to affect the signal strength of television receivers in ageographical area in a consistent manner. During a storm, for example,most or even all television receivers in a particular town or zip codemay be expected to experience signal degradation. When the majority ofreceivers in a geographic area are reporting signal disruptions,particular receivers that are supposedly located in the same geographiclocation (based on step 1202) but not reporting disruptions may beflagged as television receivers that may be associated with accountpacking (or are otherwise located in a geographic region other than theone determined or indicated at step 1202). The signal strength data,location, and other signal characteristics may be compared with thesignal strength readings of television receivers in the same geographiclocation in step 1206. If a receiver's signal characteristics do notmatch the characteristics of other receivers that are supposedly in thesame geographic region, the receiver may be disabled in step 1210 andthe user may be notified of the receiver status in step 1212. If thedata from the receiver match the regional data the signal strength ofthe receiver may be configured to report its data to the serviceprovider in step 1214.

FIG. 13 illustrates an embodiment of a method 1300 for determiningaccount packing using regional disruption data matching. Method 1300 maybe performed using the systems previously described. Specifically, stepsof method 1300 may be performed by a television receiver, such astelevision receiver 150 of FIG. 1. The embodiment detailed below isfocused on a solar conjunction, however it should be understood thatsuch embodiments may be adapted for other forms of events that affectsignal strength over a geographic region, such as a weather event.

At step 1302, the geographic location of a television receiver may bedetermined. The location may be manually entered by a user, determinedor received from a GPS sensor, determined from identifiers or locationof a network connection, or determined by the user's accountinformation. For instance, when a user first signs up for an account,the user may be requested to provide an address at which the televisionreceiver will be installed. An account packer may provide a falseaddress or other form of location—that is, an address that does notmatch the address at which the television receiver will be installed.Therefore, following step 1302, it may be unknown whether the receivedaddress for the television receiver is accurate.

At step 1304, a solar conjunction signature may be measured and recordedby one or more network-connected television receivers in a geographicregion. These television receivers may be known or expected to be in theparticular geographic region. At the same time, television receiversthat have their geographic location in question (but are supposedlylocated in the same geographic region as the television receivers withthe known location), such as the television receiver of step 1302, maymeasure and record a solar conjunction signature indicative of signalstrength, timing, duration, and/or other characteristics. The timing,duration, specific measurements of the disruption, may be measured bythe network-connected television receivers that are determined as highlylikely as being located in a particular geographic region. Suchtelevision receivers may be determined as highly likely being located ina particular geographic region based on the television service providerperforming the installation of such television receivers, previous solarconjunction measurements at the locations strongly correlating withother solar conjunction measurements for the geographic area in timeand/or signature, and/or by virtue of the television receiver beingnetwork connected (account packers tend to keep illicit televisionreceivers disconnected from the Internet in an attempt to hide theirlocation). At step 1304, the television service provider may provide anindication to television receivers (including the network connectedtelevision receivers and the television receivers for which thegeographic area is in question) in a particular geographic region tomeasure and record characteristics of the solar conjunction. Since thelocation of the sun in relation to the geographic region and thesatellite can be calculated with a high degree of accuracy, thetelevision service provider may be aware of a time period during whichthe solar conjunction will occur for the geographic region. Instructionsto measure and record the solar conjunction during the time period maybe transmitted to the network-connected television receivers and thetelevision receivers having the questionable geographic region (e.g.,the television receiver of step 1302) via the Internet or via thetelevision service-provider network (e.g., via satellite). Iftransmitted via satellite, television receivers that are not networkconnected within the geographic area may also be instructed to measureand record the solar conjunction signature, even if such televisionreceivers cannot transmit signature data back to the television serviceprovider.

The solar conjunction signatures measured by the network-connectedtelevision receivers at step 1304 may be transmitted to the televisionservice provider via the network connection at step 1305. Use of thenetwork may be necessary since the satellite-based televisiondistribution system transmits data in a unidirectional manner to thetelevision receiver. Once the signatures have been received, thetelevision service provider's system, such as television serviceprovider system 110 of FIG. 1, may create a common conjunction profilebased off of at least some of the received signatures from thenetwork-connected television receivers that are known to be locatedwithin the geographic area. Therefore, the common conjunction profilecan be representative of multiple of the received solar conjunctionsignatures.

The television service provider system may then at step 1306 providethis common conjunction profile signature to multiple televisionreceivers via the network and/or the television service provider system.Distribution of the common conjunction profile via the televisionservice provider system may be preferable since it may be transmitted totelevision receivers that are not network connected. The commonconjunction profile may be provider to television receivers indicated asbeing in the same or a similar geographic area as the network-connectedtelevision receivers that performed step 1304. For example, thetelevision receiver of step 1302 supposedly located in the geographicregion may receive the common conjunction profile at step 1306. In someembodiments, the solar conjunction event can be modeled and calculated(e.g., a time of occurrence) by the service provider rather than relyingon data to be provided by television receivers located in the geographicregion.

At step 1307, the television receiver of step 1302 for which thegeographic region has not been confirmed (possibly along with othertelevision receivers in the same geographic region) may perform acomparison between the received common conjunction profile and thetelevision receiver's own measured and recorded solar conjunctionsignature performed at step 1304. In some embodiments, the profileprovided to the television receiver may include a duration, an expectedamount of signal loss, and timing. In other embodiments, the profile mayonly indicate timing (that is, a time at which the solar conjunction isexpected to occur). At step 1308, the television receiver may make adetermination whether the received common conjunction profile matchesits own measured and recorded solar conjunction signature within athreshold range. The match may be based on time (e.g., solar conjunctionevents occurring at the same time) and/or signal strength (e.g., asimilar drop in signal strength from the satellite during a defined timeperiod). Alternatively or additionally, a duration may be used as partof the determination. If step 1308 is evaluated as yes, method 1300 mayproceed to step 1314 at which television service is allowed to continueby maintain enablement of one or more features of the televisionreceiver. If the television receiver has a means of communicating withthe television service provider, such as a network connection or dial-upservice, the television receiver may notify the television serviceprovider that the common conjunction profile matches the televisionreceiver's own measured solar conjunction signature, thus indicatingthat the television receiver is at least in the general geographicregion determined or received at step 1302. At step 1314, the televisionreceiver may exempted from performing future solar conjunctioncomparisons either permanently, until the power to the televisionreceiver has been interrupted, or for a defined period of time, such assix months.

Returning to step 1308, if a match between the common conjunctionprofile and the television receiver's measurement of the conjunction donot match within a threshold, method 1300 may proceed to step 1310. Atstep 1310, one or more functions of the television receiver may bedisabled. For instance, the television receiver may disable itself suchthat it does not output television programming, live and/or recorded,for presentation. Additionally or alternatively, the televisionreceiver, if it has a network connection, may attempt to contact thetelevision service provider to notify the service provider of thetelevision receiver being disabled and/or the suspected account packingsituation. At step 1313, a user of the television receiver may benotified that the television receiver has been disabled. Such as by thetelevision receiver causing a message to be displayed, such as: “Yourtelevision receiver has been disabled. Please contact your televisionservice provider at 1-800-555-5555 for more information. Error code:SC001232”. Such an error code may be generated by the televisionreceiver or retrieved from storage and displayed to identify to thetelevision service provider why the television receiver was disabled.Once disabled, the television receiver may remain disabled untilre-enabled by the television service provider, either via datatransmitted to the television receiver via the television distributionnetwork or a network connection. In some embodiments, a user may begiven a code or other instructions for re-enabling the televisionreceiver.

A computer system as illustrated in FIG. 14 may be incorporated as partof the previously described computerized devices, such as the describedtelevision receivers and television distribution system. FIG. 14provides a schematic illustration of one embodiment of a computer system1400 that can perform various steps of the methods provided by variousembodiments. It should be noted that FIG. 14 is meant only to provide ageneralized illustration of various components, any or all of which maybe utilized as appropriate. FIG. 14, therefore, broadly illustrates howindividual system elements may be implemented in a relatively separatedor relatively more integrated manner.

The computer system 1400 is shown comprising hardware elements that canbe electrically coupled via a bus 1405 (or may otherwise be incommunication, as appropriate). The hardware elements may include one ormore processors 1410, including without limitation one or moregeneral-purpose processors and/or one or more special-purpose processors(such as digital signal processing chips, graphics accelerationprocessors, video decoders, and/or the like); one or more input devices1415, which can include without limitation a mouse, a keyboard, remotecontrol, and/or the like; and one or more output devices 1420, which caninclude without limitation a display device, a printer, and/or the like.

The computer system 1400 may further include (and/or be in communicationwith) one or more non-transitory storage devices 1425, which cancomprise, without limitation, local and/or network accessible storage,and/or can include, without limitation, a disk drive, a drive array, anoptical storage device, a solid-state storage device, such as a randomaccess memory (“RAM”), and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can beprogrammable, flash-updateable and/or the like. Such storage devices maybe configured to implement any appropriate data stores, includingwithout limitation, various file systems, database structures, and/orthe like.

The computer system 1400 might also include a communications subsystem1430, which can include without limitation a modem, a network card(wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, a wirelesscommunication device, and/or a chipset (such as a Bluetooth™ device, an1102.11 device, a WiFi device, a WiMax device, cellular communicationdevice, etc.), and/or the like. The communications subsystem 1430 maypermit data to be exchanged with a network (such as the networkdescribed below, to name one example), other computer systems, and/orany other devices described herein. In many embodiments, the computersystem 1400 will further comprise a working memory 1435, which caninclude a RAM or ROM device, as described above.

The computer system 1400 also can comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within the working memory 1435, including anoperating system 1440, device drivers, executable libraries, and/orother code, such as one or more application programs 1445, which maycomprise computer programs provided by various embodiments, and/or maybe designed to implement methods, and/or configure systems, provided byother embodiments, as described herein. Merely by way of example, one ormore procedures described with respect to the method(s) discussed abovemight be implemented as code and/or instructions executable by acomputer (and/or a processor within a computer); in an aspect, then,such code and/or instructions can be used to configure and/or adapt ageneral purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or moreoperations in accordance with the described methods.

A set of these instructions and/or code might be stored on anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as thenon-transitory storage device(s) 1425 described above. In some cases,the storage medium might be incorporated within a computer system, suchas computer system 1400. In other embodiments, the storage medium mightbe separate from a computer system (e.g., a removable medium, such as acompact disc), and/or provided in an installation package, such that thestorage medium can be used to program, configure, and/or adapt a generalpurpose computer with the instructions/code stored thereon. Theseinstructions might take the form of executable code, which is executableby the computer system 1400 and/or might take the form of source and/orinstallable code, which, upon compilation and/or installation on thecomputer system 1400 (e.g., using any of a variety of generallyavailable compilers, installation programs, compression/decompressionutilities, etc.), then takes the form of executable code.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantialvariations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. Forexample, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portablesoftware, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to othercomputing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

As mentioned above, in one aspect, some embodiments may employ acomputer system (such as the computer system 1400) to perform methods inaccordance with various embodiments of the invention. According to a setof embodiments, some or all of the procedures of such methods areperformed by the computer system 1400 in response to processor 1410executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions (which mightbe incorporated into the operating system 1440 and/or other code, suchas an application program 1445) contained in the working memory 1435.Such instructions may be read into the working memory 1435 from anothercomputer-readable medium, such as one or more of the non-transitorystorage device(s) 1425. Merely by way of example, execution of thesequences of instructions contained in the working memory 1435 mightcause the processor(s) 1410 to perform one or more procedures of themethods described herein.

The terms “machine-readable medium,” “computer-readable storage medium”and “computer-readable medium,” as used herein, refer to any medium thatparticipates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in aspecific fashion. These mediums may be non-transitory. In an embodimentimplemented using the computer system 1400, various computer-readablemedia might be involved in providing instructions/code to processor(s)1410 for execution and/or might be used to store and/or carry suchinstructions/code. In many implementations, a computer-readable mediumis a physical and/or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take theform of a non-volatile media or volatile media. Non-volatile mediainclude, for example, optical and/or magnetic disks, such as thenon-transitory storage device(s) 1425. Volatile media include, withoutlimitation, dynamic memory, such as the working memory 1435.

Common forms of physical and/or tangible computer-readable mediainclude, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other opticalmedium, any other physical medium with patterns of marks, a RAM, a PROM,EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any othermedium from which a computer can read instructions and/or code.

Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to the processor(s) 1410for execution. Merely by way of example, the instructions may initiallybe carried on a magnetic disk and/or optical disc of a remote computer.A remote computer might load the instructions into its dynamic memoryand send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium to bereceived and/or executed by the computer system 1400.

The communications subsystem 1430 (and/or components thereof) generallywill receive signals, and the bus 1405 then might carry the signals(and/or the data, instructions, etc. carried by the signals) to theworking memory 1435, from which the processor(s) 1410 retrieves andexecutes the instructions. The instructions received by the workingmemory 1435 may optionally be stored on a non-transitory storage device1425 either before or after execution by the processor(s) 1410.

It should further be understood that the components of computer system1400 can be distributed across a network. For example, some processingmay be performed in one location using a first processor while otherprocessing may be performed by another processor remote from the firstprocessor. Other components of computer system 1400 may be similarlydistributed. As such, computer system 1400 may be interpreted as adistributed computing system that performs processing in multiplelocations. In some instances, computer system 1400 may be interpreted asa single computing device, such as a distinct laptop, desktop computer,or the like, depending on the context.

The methods, systems, and devices discussed above are examples. Variousconfigurations may omit, substitute, or add various procedures orcomponents as appropriate. For instance, in alternative configurations,the methods may be performed in an order different from that described,and/or various stages may be added, omitted, and/or combined. Also,features described with respect to certain configurations may becombined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elementsof the configurations may be combined in a similar manner. Also,technology evolves and, thus, many of the elements are examples and donot limit the scope of the disclosure or claims.

Specific details are given in the description to provide a thoroughunderstanding of example configurations (including implementations).However, configurations may be practiced without these specific details.For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, andtechniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoidobscuring the configurations. This description provides exampleconfigurations only, and does not limit the scope, applicability, orconfigurations of the claims. Rather, the preceding description of theconfigurations will provide those skilled in the art with an enablingdescription for implementing described techniques. Various changes maybe made in the function and arrangement of elements without departingfrom the spirit or scope of the disclosure.

Also, configurations may be described as a process which is depicted asa flow diagram or block diagram. Although each may describe theoperations as a sequential process, many of the operations can beperformed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of theoperations may be rearranged. A process may have additional steps notincluded in the figure. Furthermore, examples of the methods may beimplemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode,hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. Whenimplemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the programcode or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium such as a storage medium.Processors may perform the described tasks.

Having described several example configurations, various modifications,alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departingfrom the spirit of the disclosure. For example, the above elements maybe components of a larger system, wherein other rules may takeprecedence over or otherwise modify the application of the invention.Also, a number of steps may be undertaken before, during, or after theabove elements are considered.

What is claimed is:
 1. A television receiver comprising: one or moretuners; one or more processors; a memory communicatively coupled withand readable by the one or more processors and having stored thereinprocessor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, cause the one or more processors to: via a tuner of the oneor more tuners, measure and store a solar conjunction signatureindicative of a solar conjunction event caused by the sun beingsubstantially aligned with a satellite dish antenna through which thetelevision receiver receives a signal and a satellite from which thesatellite dish antenna receives the signal; receive a solar conjunctionprofile from a television service provider; compare the solarconjunction profile with the stored measured solar conjunction signatureto determine a match within a threshold range is not present; anddisable one or more features of the television receiver in response todetermining that the solar conjunction profile and the recorded solarconjunction signature do not match within the threshold range.
 2. Thetelevision receiver of claim 1, wherein the solar conjunction profileindicates a first time at which the solar conjunction event is expectedto occur and the solar conjunction signature indicates a second time atwhich the solar conjunction event occurred.
 3. The television receiverof claim 1, wherein the solar conjunction profile indicates a signalstrength expected to be measured by the television receiver during thesolar conjunction event.
 4. The television receiver of claim 1, whereinthe processor-readable instructions, when executed, further cause theone or more processors to output for presentation an alert thatindicates the television receiver has been at least partially disabled.5. The television receiver of claim 1, wherein the solar conjunctionprofile from the television service provider is indicated as beingapplicable to a geographic region in which the television receiver wasindicated as being located by a user.
 6. The television receiver ofclaim 1, wherein the processor-readable instructions, when executed,further cause the one or more processors to alert a service provider viaa network connection that the solar conjunction profile and the recordedsolar conjunction signature do not match within the threshold range. 7.A method for identifying account packing, the method comprising:receiving, by a television receiver, from a television service provider,a solar conjunction profile, wherein: the solar conjunction profileindicates a first time at which a solar conjunction is scheduled tooccur for a geographic region in which the television receiver has beenidentified as installed by a user; and the solar conjunction is causedby the sun being substantially aligned with a satellite dish throughwhich the television receiver receives a signal and a satellite fromwhich the satellite dish receives the signal; measuring, by thetelevision receiver, a solar conjunction signature; comparing, by thetelevision receiver, the solar conjunction profile with the recordedsolar conjunction signature to determine whether a match is present; anddisabling, by the television receiver, one or more features of thetelevision receiver in response to determining that the solarconjunction profile and the recorded solar conjunction signature do notmatch.
 8. The method for identifying account packing of claim 7, whereindisabling the one or more features of the television receiver comprisesdisabling output of television programming to a television.
 9. Themethod for identifying account packing of claim 8, further comprising:determining a network connection with the television service provider isavailable; and transmitting, via the network connection, an indicationthat one or more features of the television receiver have been disabled.10. The method for identifying account packing of claim 7, whereinmeasuring the solar conjunction signature comprises measuring a signalstrength from the satellite when the satellite and the satellite dishwith which the television receiver is in communication is expected to bein line with the sun.
 11. The method for identifying account packing ofclaim 7, further comprising: maintaining enablement of one or morefeatures of the television receiver in response to determining that thesolar conjunction profile and the recorded solar conjunction signaturematch.
 12. The method for identifying account packing of claim 7,wherein comparing, by the television receiver, the solar conjunctionprofile with the recorded solar conjunction signature to determinewhether the match is present comprises comparing the first time of thesolar conjunction profile with a second time of the solar conjunctionsignature.
 13. The method for identifying account packing of claim 7,wherein comparing, by the television receiver, the solar conjunctionprofile with the recorded solar conjunction signature to determinewhether the match is present comprises comparing a signal strength ofthe solar conjunction profile with a measured signal strength of thesolar conjunction signature.
 14. The method for identifying accountpacking of claim 7, wherein measuring, by the television receiver, thesolar conjunction signature occurring during a period of time defined bythe television service provider.
 15. The method for identifying accountpacking of claim 7, further comprising: measuring, by a plurality oftelevision receivers, a plurality of solar conjunction signatures,wherein the plurality of television receivers are known to be located inthe geographic region; and transmitting, by the plurality of televisionreceivers, the plurality of solar conjunction signatures to thetelevision service provider via a network connection.
 16. The method foridentifying account packing of claim 15, further comprising: creating,by a television service provider system, the solar conjunction profilebased on the plurality of solar conjunction signatures received from theplurality of television receivers known to be located in the geographicregion.
 17. The method for identifying account packing of claim 7,further comprising: calculating, by a television service providersystem, the first time for the solar conjunction profile based on thegeographic region, a location of the satellite, and the earth's orbit ofthe sun.
 18. A non-transitory processor-readable medium for identifyingaccount packing at a television receiver, comprising processor-readableinstructions configured to cause one or more processors to: via a tunerof the television receiver, measure and store a solar conjunctionsignature of a solar conjunction event caused by the sun beingsubstantially aligned with a satellite dish through which the televisionreceiver receives a signal and a satellite from which the satellite dishreceives the signal; receive a solar conjunction profile from atelevision service provider; compare the solar conjunction profile withthe recorded solar conjunction signature to determine a match within athreshold range is present; and disable one or more features of thetelevision receiver in response to determining that the solarconjunction profile and the recorded solar conjunction signature do notmatch within the threshold range.
 19. The non-transitoryprocessor-readable medium for identifying account packing at thetelevision receiver of claim 18, wherein the processor-readableinstructions configured to cause the one or more processors to measureand store the solar conjunction signature comprises processor-readableinstruction configured to cause the one or more processors to measureand record a time of the solar conjunction event and a signal strengthof the signal received from the satellite during the solar conjunctionevent.